Thursday, September 11, 2008

Blessings in Suffering

I never want suffering, I wish to avoid it in all circumstances. When I look back on my life and see the moments that were lived most intensely, those were the times when I had the greatest love and the greatest pain. Great transformations have taken place in my life through sufferings that I thought were too difficult to bear, but in retrospect the difficulties have brought other gifts that have transformed my life and the lives of others I know and perhaps those I do not. Saint Faustina writes that conversion always requires suffering. It is the way that the heart is drawn ever closer to God and it helps us to see that only God can satisfy our heart's desires. It turns the desires away from people or consumerism that can never satisfy the I. In this turning, we find a fulfillment beyond all expectation or imagination. Even in tremendous suffering we can be happy, this is a beautiful realization.

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